It may be this is really the end of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Sunday’s episode was down 20% from last week. With 317,000 total viewers, the Larry David comedy is off more than 100,000 viewers from its return four weeks ago.
It’s not like the cast isn’t out there promoting. I’ve seen Susie and Jeff a lot. Also Larry punched out Elmo on “Good Morning America.”
But the shows have not been great so far. The first two weeks the series went to Atlanta, which wasn’t funny. In the third week there was improvement.
But Sunday night, it seemed like “Curb” was on autopilot. For one thing, there’s much locker room talk about “balls.” It’s just kind of gross and not up to par.
Then there’s the Asian manager of the country club becoming a constant joke. It’s not working and isn’t funny.
MSNBC’s Willy Geist was the guest star this week. He actually didn’t do too badly, but why was he so prominent? We are missing many of the show’s regulars considering the end is near. Where is Richard Kind, for example? And why is Tracey Ullman still around? She’s such a great talent, but this character has worn out its welcome.
This Sunday is episode 5. Let’s hope that there’s some arc coming that includes everyone and drives to the story to its conclusion — something to keep us watching!